help me out ! (noob right here)

alright so ive never mastered the healthy eating plus excersise thing

im 18, weigh 140 and am 5'7, female ofcourse !

i probably eat 2500-3000 cals a day with no excersise

i want to lose 10 pounds by the end of june. so for summer :]

i was thinking work out 6 days a week (30  min cardio, 20 min core excersises)

and 2000 cals a day.

but the posts on here are making me think that 2000 a day is too much? people are getting upset of eating that much! do you think that is a good plan though? any help is appreciated! thanks !

I'm not an expert at all on this kind of stuff, but from personal experience, 2000 calories a day is not too much at all. What's your BMR? I believe mine is around 1700-1800. So if I'm completely sedentary, I need at least that much to maintain. However, I usually burn 500-1000 calories a day, so I can get away with eating 2500 calories and still lose weight. Does this make sense? You should be fine eating 2000cal/day as long as you're burning more than that. 

Don't get discouraged - it'll probably take you a little while to figure out how much you should be eating in a day. Calorie counting helps, but it's not always accurate. You'll just have to experiment a little. 

Good luck :)

wow thanks so much jcl76!

its just confusing because all these posts of people saying they eat like 1500 a day then workout for an hour! that just seems so small. :S

18, weigh 140 and am 5'7,

well you should have no problem losing this weight.

cut your calories to 1500...eat more Vegan diet, avoid sugar and fat...

drink water as you go... not enough to make you go to the bathroom every hour on the hour.

Do the exercise as you stated...30 minutes a day minimum, would be all you need.

Introduce more grains and cereals..bran, psyllium, flax seeds, rolled oats, spelt flakes...eat these each day in salads or cereals or soups...also good for gaps and when the hungries hit too. There are a lot more at may health food or bulk food stores in these high nutrient and low fat foods.

good luck

Original Post by themassageguy:

18, weigh 140 and am 5'7,

well you should have no problem losing this weight.

cut your calories to 1500...eat more Vegan diet, avoid sugar and fat...

drink water as you go... not enough to make you go to the bathroom every hour on the hour.

Do the exercise as you stated...30 minutes a day minimum, would be all you need.

Introduce more grains and cereals..bran, psyllium, flax seeds, rolled oats, spelt flakes...eat these each day in salads or cereals or soups...also good for gaps and when the hungries hit too. There are a lot more at may health food or bulk food stores in these high nutrient and low fat foods.

good luck

 omg. i dont think i could EVER go to 1500. i live for chocolate milk, haha.

but yeah, im not chubby at all. i think im pretty average. its just i wouldnt mind being a little toned for bikini season. and im not athletic AT all so i want to be able to do excserise. so its more of a health thing then lose weight thing. :]

Original Post by themassageguy:

18, weigh 140 and am 5'7,

well you should have no problem losing this weight.

cut your calories to 1500...eat more Vegan diet, avoid sugar and fat...

drink water as you go... not enough to make you go to the bathroom every hour on the hour.

Do the exercise as you stated...30 minutes a day minimum, would be all you need.

Introduce more grains and cereals..bran, psyllium, flax seeds, rolled oats, spelt flakes...eat these each day in salads or cereals or soups...also good for gaps and when the hungries hit too. There are a lot more at may health food or bulk food stores in these high nutrient and low fat foods.

good luck

massageguy, the op is only 18 and not overweight. Therefore, eating only 1500 calories will not be enough. Plus, fat is an essential nutrient for the body and should not be avoided - moderate amounts are good for you.

blackout - 2000 cals sounds like a good plan with all the exercise you plan to do. You should plan to have a daily calorie deficit of around 500 (ie burn 500 more calories than you eat) and have a deficit no larger than 1000 calories.

Remember exercise counts as energy burned, and you will also burn a set amount (your BMR basal metabolic rate - use the cc calculators to work it out).

So, Food eaten - (BMR + exercise) should = between -500 and -1000.

Sorry that is complicated, hope it makes sense. Good luck!

Stick to your plan girl,  others have a much bigger weight issue that you..  just remember 80% of your weight can be control by your food intake, and 20% is exercise.. so be aware of what goes in your mouth.

2000 cals should be plenty for you to lose weight with that kind of exercise.  Plus, teens have a higher metablosim, in fact there are special burn meters for teens that factor this in, you willl burn more cals than adults on this site natrually.

I am about your height, 5 years older but I can lose weight on 1800 cals easy.  Plus the key thing is it is MAINTAINABLE.  Stick with your instinct of 2000 cals and just be patient, there are no quick fixes/easy answers.  :)

Original Post by merylwhite1:

Original Post by themassageguy:

18, weigh 140 and am 5'7,

well you should have no problem losing this weight.

cut your calories to 1500...eat more Vegan diet, avoid sugar and fat...

drink water as you go... not enough to make you go to the bathroom every hour on the hour.

Do the exercise as you stated...30 minutes a day minimum, would be all you need.

Introduce more grains and cereals..bran, psyllium, flax seeds, rolled oats, spelt flakes...eat these each day in salads or cereals or soups...also good for gaps and when the hungries hit too. There are a lot more at may health food or bulk food stores in these high nutrient and low fat foods.

good luck

massageguy, the op is only 18 and not overweight. Therefore, eating only 1500 calories will not be enough. Plus, fat is an essential nutrient for the body and should not be avoided - moderate amounts are good for you.

blackout - 2000 cals sounds like a good plan with all the exercise you plan to do. You should plan to have a daily calorie deficit of around 500 (ie burn 500 more calories than you eat) and have a deficit no larger than 1000 calories.

Remember exercise counts as energy burned, and you will also burn a set amount (your BMR basal metabolic rate - use the cc calculators to work it out).

So, Food eaten - (BMR + exercise) should = between -500 and -1000.

Sorry that is complicated, hope it makes sense. Good luck!

You know I quit using this site for awhile because I was so hungry from trying to subsist on 1500 calories (I am 4'9'' around 130lbs) When I did the caculations your way I came up with -313 on a 2000 calorie diet. but that was with 350 cals burned during exercise. However with it being summer I am ousidea lot more doing serious hard work, so I know I am burning way more than 350. It's just nice to know I don't have to starve myself to get in better shape. Thank You

Original Post by themassageguy:

18, weigh 140 and am 5'7,

well you should have no problem losing this weight.

cut your calories to 1500...eat more Vegan diet, avoid sugar and fat...

drink water as you go... not enough to make you go to the bathroom every hour on the hour.

Do the exercise as you stated...30 minutes a day minimum, would be all you need.

Introduce more grains and cereals..bran, psyllium, flax seeds, rolled oats, spelt flakes...eat these each day in salads or cereals or soups...also good for gaps and when the hungries hit too. There are a lot more at may health food or bulk food stores in these high nutrient and low fat foods.

good luck

 I would not recommend this type of diet at all. You can't justifiably suggest practically eliminating fats and proteins in favor of carbohydrates. she'd be practically starving and terribly deprived of imporant macronutrients. You might lose weight because you're eating so little, but unless you are eating a vegan diet as a personal lifestyle choice, then don't do it. Your body is built on a foundation of protein and fats, protein infact comes from the greek word proteios which literally means of first importance. And fats play a huge role in cerebral function! I can eat upto 100g a day of fat and not gain weight provided that I don't significantly go over my maintenance intake. Just make sure that they come from healthy sources like nuts, oil and avocado.

I'm 5'7 20 years old and I maintain at about 2300 a day. Don't let anyone tell you to limit yourself to specific food groups. Just make sensible and nutritious choices and don't skimp on protein it should be about %40 of your intake.

For exercise I would also suggest weight lifting, it will help you maintain muscle tissue while ridding yourself of fat.

When I started I had your stats at 18 I was close to 140 lbs, then over a year and a half I got down to 114. It really wasn't pretty. Then I started weight lifting and I've gained back 15lbs most of which is muscle and now I'm finally happy with how I look. A vegan diet will make you skinny, but skinny isn't always considered attractive, but it depends on who you ask. I'm assuming you want to be toned and 10-15 lbs smaller.

Two books I would suggest are "The New Rules of Lifting For Women" and "The Eat Clean Diet" these two are a really powerful combination, there are plenty of women on this site that would suggest it. Good Luck!

heya....have you used the BMR and calorie target tool ??

basically if you put in ur details and it will tell you what u burn by just existing....ive just done it for you and with 'light activity' it says u will burn 2000 kcals a day.

So you need a 500 deficit each day to lose a lb a week, however if ur workin out like u say burnin 500kcals u can eat 2000 because ud still have a 500 deficit, dya get me lol? im crap ha at explainin

also if ur tryin to maintain u wont need such a big deficit so id say 2000 is perfect for you, maybe more on the days u work out if ur at a healthy weight and dnt need to lose

Good luck xx

hey ..

its good to hear that you are following a healthy weight loss pattern .... don't worry your way might not be the fastest but this way you'll lose weight for good and in a healthy way too.

just make sure that your 2000 calorie intake is from healthy and preservative free ( as much as possible ) food . 

good luck 

Anu